Heart Rate Monitor Running Diary – Week Six (Part 1)
In my first five weeks heart rate monitor training I have made some fairly good progress. My speed is increasing and I’m now running around 25 miles per week. All of my runs thus far have been on a flat treadmill, and now it is time to gradually increase the incline on the treadmill to better prepare for outdoor racing. So for the next few weeks I intend to run primarily on an incline of 0.5%. Just a baby step for the moment, then when I feel ready I will increase the incline still further.
I started the week with an interval training session which was basically identical to the previous week. The difference was that I started the main intervals at 7.5mph and maintained this for the first four intervals. My heart rate reached 173bpm on the fourth interval, so I performed the final interval at 7mph and reached 172bpm before jogging the final mile. Given that I was running on a slight incline, I was happy to see that I still finished the session very slightly faster than the previous week.
On the second and third day I ran recovery runs of six miles and four miles respectively. My times were around the same as the previous week. This still represented an improvement, because the previous runs had been on the flat.
Day four was my second hard session of the week. Rather than increase my target heart rate for the Tempo run, I increased the distance to four miles while maintaining 80%MHR (164bpm). Again, I was pleased to see that my speed was no slower than my previous run on a flat treadmill.
I have noticed a very slight ache in my legs this last couple of days. That’s good as it means that I will be better prepared for running outdoors. I’m happy with the way the training is going and I’m now feeling even more motivated for entering some warm-up races on my journey to the spring marathon.
You can follow my progress on the Women’s Heart Rate Monitor blog.
October 19 2009 02:32 pm | Heart Rate Monitor Running Diary
February 14th, 2010 at 10:51 pm
[...] Heart Rate Monitor Running Diary – Week Six (Part 1) [...]
March 21st, 2010 at 4:16 pm
[...] Heart Rate Monitor Running Diary – Week Six (Part 1) [...]